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Husky Men Embark On Final Pac-10 Road Trip

This Week: Washington men's soccer (9-4-1, 3-3-1 Pac-10) embarks on its final Pac-10 road trip this week facing San Diego State (8-1-4, 1-1-3), Friday, Oct. 28, at 3 p.m. and No. 17 UCLA (8-3-2, 3-1-1), Sunday, Oct. 30, at 1 p.m. The Huskies, who have won three of their last four matches, have enjoyed success on the road compiling a 6-2 record when playing away from Husky Soccer Field. Washington enters the week in fourth place in the Pac-10 standings and has the potential to gain ground on UCLA (third), Oregon State (t-1st) and idle California (t-1st). SDSU has lost just once this season, but its 1-1-3 Pac-10 record puts the squad in fifth-place. The Huskies still have one more road game on their docket, a non-conference contest with Gonzaga in Spokane, Nov. 6.

Last Time Out: The Huskies split a pair of matches at home last weekend, falling to No. 12 Cal 2-0, but bouncing back to trounce Stanford 3-0. Friday, the Golden Bears used goals from Angel Quintero and Calen Carr to even the season series with UW. Quintero scored in the 17th minute and Carr sealed the victory in the 87th minute. Sunday, the Huskies regrouped and despite playing a man down for 77 minutes, defeated Stanford 3-0. Senior Evan Cummings scored his first goal of the season in the ninth minute to give UW an early lead. Senior Jeff Hoover was issued a red card and ejected in the 13th minute. Sophomore foward Ely Allen (who moved back to the midfield to fill Hoover's spot), scord his second goal of the season in the 30th minute and assisted sophomore forward Spencer Schmidt's goal in the 80th minute. Senior goalkeeper Chris Eylander picked up his seventh shutout of the season.

Rankings: The Huskies received votes in the NSCAA adidas poll, and fell from last week's No. 25 spot in the Soccer America rankings. UW is ranked highest by Soccer Times (22) and is billed No. 23 by College Soccer News.

Facing The Nation's Best: The Huskies will be facing the nation's top two goalkeepers in UCLA's Eric Reed and San Diego State's Tally Hall this week. Reed leads the country with a 0.272 goals against average and Hall, a native of Gig Harbor, Wash., ranks second with a 0.313 GAA. Both Reed and Hall also rank 1-2 in shots on goal save percentage (Reed - 0.919; Hall - 0.917). As a team, SDSU leads the nation with a 0.39 GAA and UCLA is second (0.45). UCLA leads the nation in shutout percentage (0.77), while SDSU is second (0.75).

Scouting San Diego State: The Aztecs, ranked 18th by Soccer America, have just one loss but are in fifth place in the conference with six points. SDSU's only loss came at Oregon State Oct. 7 (1-2). The Aztecs notched a 1-0 win over non-conference opponent San Diego Monday. Junior goalkeeper Tally Hall recorded his 10th shutout, tying the Aztec single-season record. In fact the Aztec defense has not allowed a goal since that 2-1 loss at Oregon State. San Diego State has been unbeatable at home thus far, with a 6-0-1 record at the SDSU Sports Deck. Kraig Chiles leads the team with seven goals and 14 points.

All-Time Series With SDSU: Washington leads the all-time series with SDSU, 3-2-1. The last time these teams met in Seattle they battled to a scoreless overtime draw. The Huskies outshot the Aztecs 23-12 in that match. Friday marks the second time these teams have met in San Diego. UW won that meeting in 1990, 2-1 in overtime.

Scouting UCLA: The Huskies will face a Bruin team that is also unbeaten at home (5-0-1). In fact, the Bruins haven't even allowed a goal at home this season. UCLA, ranked ninth by Soccer America and 17th by the NSCAA, will host Oregon State Friday before hosting UW. As a team, the Bruins have notched a Pac-10 leading 10 shutouts, including seven in the last eight matches. Only Oregon State has found the net versus UCLA during that span, handing the Bruins their only Pac-10 loss (1-0). Kamani Hill ranks fourth in the conference with 13 points (three goals, seven assists). UCLA is coming off a 1-0 non-conference victory over UC Santa Barbara last Thursday.

All-Time Series With UCLA: The Huskies will look to avenge their 1-0 loss versus the Bruins in Seattle, Oct. 7. Defender Patrick Ianni notched the game's only goal on a free kick. UW outshot UCLA in that match, 12-8. UW trails the all-time series with UCLA 9-14-1, but the last time the Huskies played at UCLA they came away with a 1-0 victory (Oct. 3, 2004). The last eight meetings between these teams have been decided by one goal.

Wurzberger Faces Alma Mater: Friday marks the first time Dean Wurzberger will travel to his alma mater as the head coach at Washington. Wurzberger lettered at San Diego State from 1971-74. Wurzberger has faced the Aztecs three times now in his UW coaching career, three weeks ago in Seattle and in 2000 and 1995 on neutral fields. The last time Washington played at SDSU was 1990, under the direction of then-head coach Ron Carter. UCLA is also a familiar place for Wurzberger, who served as an assistant with the Bruins from 1986-88.

Road Warriors: Washington has enjoyed success thus far on the road, winning six matches while losing just two. The two losses came to nationally-ranked Creighton in Portland (3-2) and at Oregon State (0-1).

Dawg Bites: Thus far Washington is unbeatable when netting the first goal...UW is 6-0 when scoring first in a match...Washington's three goals versus Stanford, Sunday, were the most since its 3-2 win over Air Force (Sept. 18)...senior Leo Totev leads the team with three goals and three assists for nine points...Totev has three gamewinning goals this season, and five in his career...sophomore forward Ely Allen was a spark to the UW offense this past weekend, scoring a goal and adding an assist in UW's 3-0 win over Stanford...Allen ranks fourth in the Pac-10 with 34 shots...the Huskies lead the Pac-10 with 205 shots (14.64 per game)...UW's season-high 28 shots vs. Wisconsin (Sept. 23) ranks second in the conference...only Oregon State tallied more (31 vs. Jacksonville)...goalkeeper Chris Eylander has a 0.56 goals against average against Pac-10 opponents, while recording four shutouts in seven matches...senior Jeff Hoover will be forced to sit out Friday's match versus San Diego State after receiving a red card in UW's last match versus Stanford.

Strength In Numbers: One of the keys to the Huskies' success thus far is their depth. Eighteen players have started at least one match and UW is seeing offensive production from some unlikely candidates. Six Huskies scored their first collegiate goals (four sophomores and two freshmen) and a total of 13 players have tallied either a goal or an assist. In fact four of Washington's goals have been scored by bench players, including the gamewinner in the 89th minute versus Air Force by sophomore forward Spencer Schmidt.

Top Dawg: A leader in every sense of the word, senior Mike Chabala is tied for second on the squad with seven points on two goals and three assists. The Husky midfielder nearly equaled his career total for goals in UW's first two matches. Chabala had three goals coming into 2005 and scored a pair at the Nike Portland Invitational. Versus Cal Poly, his goal on a penalty kick tied the match at 1-1 and he assisted the third goal on a throw-in. Versus Creighton, Chabala scored a goal on a free kick. He also assisted the gamewinning goal versus Saint Mary's and the first of the three-goal barrage versus Air Force. Four of his five career goals have been scored on penalty kicks (he is a perfect 4-for-4 in PK attempts) and all five have come on restarts.

Eylander Climbs Career Charts: Senior goalkeeper Chris Eylander is looking to etch his name in the Husky record books before his career is complete. With four shutouts in the last five games, Eylander has 18, tying Bill May on the UW career list. May tallied 18 shutouts from 1994-97. Craig Christopherson is second on the list with 27 (1983-86) and Mark Schuur olds the career shutout record with 31 (1980-82).

Top Frosh: Freshman Jo Jo Katz has played in all 14 matches this season and made his first career start versus San Diego State (10/9). Katz is one of five players in the conference to record at least two assists in a single game, tallying a pair of assists in UW's 2-1 overtime win versus Wisconsin (Sept. 23). Katz scored his first career goal versus Denver (Sept. 16).

Head Coach Dean Wurzberger: In his 14th season at the helm of the Washington men's soccer program, head coach Dean Wurzberger has guided the Huskies to nine NCAA tournament berths in 10 seasons. Wurzberger is the longest tenured Pac-10 coach and was named the 2004 Pac-10 Co-Coach of the Year. He reached the 150 win milestone for both his career and Washington overall records in 2003. Wurzberger's 150th career win came with a 1-0 victory over Portland, Sept. 5, 2003, while his 150th win as Husky head coach came with Washington's 3-1 win over Stanford, Oct. 31, 2003. Wurzberger has an overall head coaching mark of 181-81-31 (13 years at Washington, one year at Sacramento State). Under Wurzberger's guidance, Washington was one of only seven schools in the country to make seven consecutive NCAA tournament appearances from 1995 to 2001. His 2000 team won the inaugural Pac-10 Conference championship, following two consecutive Mountain Pacific Sports Federation titles. Wurzberger's overall record of 173-73-26 at Washington makes him the winningest head coach in Husky history. His assistant coaches are Seth Spidahl, Richard Reece and Darren Sawatzky.

Huskies To Hold Alumni Day: The Huskies' regular season home finale versus Oregon State, Nov. 13, will feature the annual Alumni Game festivities. The Alumni game will be played at 9 a.m. on the East Practice Field with a reception to follow at the Conibear Shellhouse at noon. For more information or if you are a former Husky and wish to participate, contact assistant coach Richard Reece at 206-616-1123.

Up Next: The Huskies take a break from conference play to host Portland, Friday, Nov. 4 (7:30 p.m.), before traveling to Gonzaga, Sunday, Nov. 6 (1 p.m.).